July 30
I take online quizzes sometimes when I am drunk and bored and lonely. Here are the results of the latest...
You are 50% geek |
You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.
|
Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com
July 30
Location: my new apartment
Mood: tired, sore, and kind of depressed
I decided to say "fuck it" to any more unpacking tonight after the (dining room) chair that I was standing on to hang a picture broke underneath me and I fell backwards and through the seat simultaneously. A couple of years ago my aunt Gina broke her arm in two places when she fell backwards off a chair while she was hanging some drapes. So I suppose I ought to be glad that all I have are some new bruises and a sore wrist. Still.
At least I have internet again. The cable people were out just this morning to hook me up with my portal to the rest of the world. Since I am in no mood to continue with unpacking and decorating (as well as now being down one chair) I suppose I might as well get drunk on some nice Pinot Grigio left over from Sarah and Mike's wedding (they have about 30 bottles of wine and champaigne at their apartment, so I "borrowed" a few bottles when I stopped by to look in on the cats) and update my log for the last week and a half. Besides, I have nothing better to do and nowhere better to go.
According to John, a whole bunch of people are getting together to play games at Kelly and Chris's house back in MI. Nice to know what I am missing. I wish I was there.
Recap. (This is mostly for my own records - to write down what heppened over the last week and a half before I forget it all. So the 2.5 people who are not John who actually read my log can just skip all of this. Unless you really care about my packing and moving and Sarah and Mike's wedding. As for the wedding and all attendant events... I have lots of pictures, but since I have not yet found the cable that connects my camera to the computer, I cannot post anything. Not yet, anyway.)
July 20
My last day of work at DBD. For most of the day Chris (the office manager) and I were the only people in. Tom came in later in the afternoon, but everyone else was either out on vacation or working from home, so I really didn't get a chance to say goodbye to people.
I did get all of the programs for the wedding printed out, but it took most of the night. I was up until about 3:30am and got up again a little bit after 6:00am. In retrospect, I should have started the printouts a lot earlier in the evening... Because I got so little sleep, I drank mug after mug of coffee all day in order to stay awake. And because I was drinking mug after mug of coffee, I was filling up on that and never really ate anything because I wasn't getting hungry. By the time that FKABN at David's rolled around, I was pretty messed up. I still hadn't eated anything, and all of the coffee was making me feel kind of sick and shakey. John took me through a Wendy's drive through on the way home and made me get something to eat. I was glad that he had. And if he hadn't, I probably wouldn't have eaten anything at all.
July 21
Wednesday.
I got up early and resumed packing. Sarah and Mike took me out
to lunch at Cafe Zola to thank me for all of the work I was doing on the wedding
prep for them. Then we wandered around the art faire for a little while...
Sarah still needed to get some last minute "thank you" presents
for various people associated with the wedding, and thought that this was
a good time to try and get that all taken care of. Since I had (as always)
my backpack with me, I got to carry everything.
The big event of the day (evening?) was Sarah's bachelorette party. It was a pretty small party... we wanted to wait to have it until Liz (the other maid of honor) got in to town, which meant that the party was in the middle of the week and kind of late in the evening, effecgively excluding anyone who needed to be at work the next morning. I picked up Liz at the airport, and we headed off to Fishbone's Rythym Kitchen (a cajun place in Greektown) to meet everyone else. After dinner we went to a little pastry shop down the street from the restaurant to pick up some sweets for dessert. When we stepped out of the shop, the skies opened up, the rain came down, and the evening was effectively over. We had discussed trying out the Greektown casinos after dessert, but no one wants to play poker when they are soaked to the skin.
I packed some more when I got home after dropping people off.
July 22
Thursday
I like art faire, unlike a lot of other Ann Arbor residents. Probably
because I have never been inconvenienced by it - I have always lived just
far enough away from the downtown area that the crowds never bothered me,
and since I mostly bike around Ann Arbor anyway, the traffic and parking "issues"
never came up either. Art faire is best when you get there very early before
the crowds show up and the day gets hot. I biked over the the university area,
locked up my bike, and got a cup of coffee to sip while I wandered around
looking at stuff and chatting with the artists. It was nice. Very nice. A
good break from all of the packing and wedding maddness.
There was a "bridesmaid's luncheon" at (another cajun seafood) place in Saline. Of all of the other bridesmaids, I only knew Liz and Ginger, so it was nice to meet everyone else in a fairly relaxed setting before the big day. (The restaurant was great - just my luck to find an excellent restaurant just before I move out of state.) When Sarah passed out the bidesmaid's presents, I was kind of embarrassed at the size of the pile she put in front of me ... especially since I didn't feel like I had done anything more then was my "normal" maid of honor duties. Sarah gave me a set of martini glasses, a shaker, and a book of martini stories, history, and recipies. She said it was so we could "recreate Cafe Felix" together in Dayton.
This evening was the wedding rehersal and I got lost on my way to the Henry Ford Estate. I had never been there before, and I almost never go into Detroit (and thus am completely unfamiliar with any of the roads and freeways around there) so I fell back on my trusty friend Mapquest.com to get me there. Too bad that Mapquest.com was not up on all of the road work in Michigan. The exit ramp that I needed to take was closed. So I called John (feeling a little hysterical) to see if I could get an alternate route before I got completely lost. Fortunatly (thank you John!) he was able to eventually get me there with frequent cell phone consultations on the new directions and reassurances that I was indeed going to right way. I got there. I was quite a bit late, but at least I made it there so I could learn what I needed to do during the actual wedding.
The rehersal dinner was at Hockeytown Cafe (in downtown Detroit! Another place that I had never been to and had no idea how to get to!) where Sarah and Mike met for the first time. (Aaaawwww!) I had a small breakdown after the rehersal trying to get directions to the place when everyone I asked told me to "just go to" various roads I was unfamiliar with "and it will be easy to find". The one person who told me that it was "right across from Tiger Stadium, you can't miss it" just stared at me when I protested that I had no idea where Tiger Stadium was. If I hadn't found people to follow there, I think I would have just skipped the dinner and gone home.
July 23
Thursday. The big day. (Dah dum da dum!)
And another hysterical freak out in the morning. Between the bridesmaid's luncheon and the rehersal, I had just enough time to pick up my dress, but not enough time to try it on or look at it. So when I pulled it out this morning and saw that it was patently NOT DONE (as in, there were seams hanging open) I completely FREAKED OUT. When I had gone to pick it up, they made me wait over a half hour because they were "pressing" it, which is why I hadn't had enough time to look at it the day before. Bullshit they were pressing it... if they had been pressing it then they might have noticed that the dress that they told me was "all done" and were about to hand me was not, in fact, done at all. (Even thinking about this a week later still makes me mad) It is probably a good thing that the dress shop didn't open until 10am, because that gave me some time to get a cup of coffee and calm down a little bit. I still must have sufficiently impressed/frightened/motivated the shop girl sufficiently (I cannot remember at all what I said to her) because by the time I got back from picking up Sarah's dress, my dress was done and I was able (wonder of wonders) to get to the specified (Sarah selected and made the appointments) beauty salon to get my hair done.
I opted for a simple french braid. Looks nice, minimal effort, and NO HAIRPINS. Sarah and Liz and Ginger all got very impressive and lovely looking up-do's which, while looking all impressive and lovely, still required waay too many hairpins for my taste.
Then - and this is where the day really started to speed up - off to the hotel where Sarah had the bridal suite! We had some nice little snacks and sipped some champaigne and did each other's make-up. Then, off to Henry Ford Manor! (Which was fortunately right down the street). Us bridesmaids put on our dresses and helped Sarah on with hers. Then, outside for some pictures! Lot of poses - solo, with bridesmaids, with family... Then, back inside so the groom would not see the bride when he and the groomsmen showed up for their pre-wedding photo session! Then time slowed down a little bit again... we helped Sarah out of her very gorgeous (and very hot and heavy) dress since at that point it was still about an hour until the ceremony.
I don't actually remember a lot about the ceremony - mostly because it was pretty unremarkable. Your standard psuedo-Catholic outdoor ceremony. It was a very pretty location and all of the people involved were very happy and pretty and slightly teary... but it was still pretty standard. And I don't mean that to sound disparaging AT ALL. The wedding party had to stand through the whole ceremony, so my thoughts alternated between "my feet hurt soooo much, when can I sit down?" and "Mawwidge is what bwings us togevah todahy..." (from "The Princess Bride", if you don't get the reference)
Sarah and Mike looked so happy and so beautiful....
And then it was over and we all paraded out... and had another photo session! (oh no!)
This was an all-out wedding. The cake was gorgeous (and tasted great!) and the drinks were good (and much needed!) and the hors'devours (sp!?!?!) were delectable, as was the dinner. Sarah's first dance with Mike, and then her dance with her dad were both very sweet.
I caught the bouquet, and John caught the garter. It was totally a set up... Sarah and Mike both threw the respective items right at us. Though Mike's dad gave John a run for his money for the possession of the garter.
It was a nice wedding. I was glad to have been a part of it. And damn, was I glad when it was over.
July 24
Saturday.
After a brief snafu with with U-Haul over my reservation for a
truck, John and I ended up getting a truck from Budget instead. And then we
loaded...and loaded...and loaded until almost all (but not quite all) of my
possessions were in the truck.
Then we showered and went to Chuck's for my goodbye party... stopping along the way to acquire a suitable selection of cheese and crackers and pastries and alcoholic beverages to bring with us. It was sad that this was the last time that I will be able to go over Chuck's and play games with my friends for a very long time. Very sad. I will miss everyone so much....
July 25 - 26
Sunday and Monday.
John and I drove down to Dayton (me in my car and him in the truck) to take
possession of my apartment, unload, do some minor unpacking, and run some
errands. Monday morning we dropped off the truck, did some more monir stuff,
and drove back to Ann Arbor.
We had (for old time's sake) martinis and played cribbage at Cafe Felix. We also swipped their drink menu. I love their martinis, and unless I go back to Ann Arbor for visits I won't get to have them anymore. So I should at least get the list of martinis and what goes into them so I can learn to make them myself, right?
July 27
I cleaned my old apartment, packed the last remaining items, had lunch with Dave, ran some errands, and went to one last FKABN at Katy and Eric's.
July 28
I loaded up my car with the last bits, the plants, the fish (sans tank, which had a small accident) and Merlin. Merlin did not want to go into her carrier. She REALLY did not want to get into her carrier. It is several days later and I still have claw marks.
And I said goodbye to Ann Arbor, shed a few tears, and drove to Dayton.
July 28 - Now
Days filled with unpacking and arranging and errands. None of which are completely done yet. And none of which will be completely done for several days yet.
And that brings our tale to the present day.
At least I have internet again.
I need another drink. I am lonely and it is too quiet here.
July 19
Stress.
Second last day of full work at DBD today. Just wrapping stuff up.
Got a lot of stuff settled for my apartment in Dayton: electricity, gas service, Sarah picked up my keys for me (please god let her remember to bring them with her when she comes to Ann Arbor tomorrow night) and I set up an appointment to get cable and a cable modem hooked up on July 30. Minimal time without internet access equals a happy Kara.
And now, packing. I need to get as much done tonight as I can. The goal is to get 75% of my apartment packed. Because of the whole wedding thing (in which I play the large part of maid of honor) I won't have a lot of time, if any at all, on Thursday and Friday. So it is today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. I think I have about 50% (maybe a little less) of my apartment packed as of right now, so this might actually be a reachable goal. Tonight... my clothes and closets (and maybe some kitchen and bathroom stuff) And now for the wacky multi-tasking part of it: while I pack my bedroom I will be printing out all of the programs for Sarah's wedding on Friday. And I resolve to not sleep (I can't really sleep) until the programs are printed out.
I don't think that I will sleep a lot tonight. Sleep is over-rated. Sleep is for the weak. But since I have been having some intermittent chest pain this evening (despite medication) I think that I will need to be weak at some point tonight. I am not too worried about the chest pain... it is probably just stress. It should go away as soon as I am not longer stressed out. I wonder when that will be?
[1:30am update]
Okay. So technically it is now July 20, but since I haven't been to sleep yet, and I am just going to go on calling it July 19. I have made progress. I have packed about 70% of my clothes, cleaned out my bedroom closet, packed about 30 % of my kitchen, and 50% of my bathroom. And not I am just sort of puttering around and picking up bits and pieces here and there as I wait for the programs for the ceremony to print out. And since printing that out is one of my big goals for today...since they have to be printed out so that I can give them to Sarah's mother tomorrow for assembly...there is not option. I WILL STAY AWAKE until they are all printed. And when that will be, only god, my desktop computer, and my printer know for sure.
My new goal is at least four hours of sleep tonight.
July 18
This was a good weekend. Probably the last relatively stress-free time that I will enjoy in a good long while.
I spent the weekend with friends.
Saturday afternoon John and I went to see "I, Robot" with Zach and David Carter. After the movie when we were all splitting up to go home, I turned to John and said, "You know, I will really miss this... sending out a quick email to say 'hey everyone, let's go out to see a movie.' And then just getting together like this." Remind me again why I am leaving? Oh yeah... a great job. Somehow, when stacked up against some great friends, that doesn't always seem like the best trade.
Saturday night David wound up his CyberSlayer game at Katy and Eric's. If there is a sequel, I won't be around to play in it...
Sunday. Fencing. Kelly and Zach showed up to try it out. Afterwards, mass Wendy's run for food to feed the hungry fighters and mass immigration to the Pierpont Commons and the lovely huge tables therein for some board game fun. Then Pizza House a little later then that.
Then John and I hung out at my apartment and played Cribbage and watched a truly wretched early 1970s horror movie called "The Frogs". Don't go see it... it sucks.
Good times.
God, I will miss this.
July 15
Last night I began the process of gathering up my belongings and putting them into boxes. I started with the books, because, well, books are the easiest. And most of my bookshelves are of the sort that can be folded up and propped in a corner. Which leaves more floor space for piles of boxes. The one bookshelf that is of the large and awkward variety is, frankly, a piece of crap. As soon as I have all of the stuff cleared off of it, I will cheerfully pull it to bits and relocate those bits to the dumpster nearest my building. Even with the two milk crates of books that I purged from my library, I have almost 20 boxes of books. Purging is hard, there is just so much I can't get rid of. Computer books? They stay, of course. Graduate and undergraduate text books? They stay too. They have already been purged - what with book buybacks and all, at the end of a course I tended to only keep the ones I really liked. Fiction? All of the stuff I purged was fiction - old trade paperbacks. I have been more discerning in my fiction purchases lately: I only buy what I know I will want to read over and over. Comics? I have three and a half boxes of comics and graphic novels. I can't get rid of any of those.
What will I do with the books that I weeded from my collection? They are in the trunk of my car right now. I am going to drop them off at the Dawn Treader, which is one of my favorite used bookstores here. If they want to give me some small amount of money for them, great. If not, who cares? I will just give the books to them. The thing is... I just don't want to have to throw them away. I can't throw away books. I much prefer to give them away. If Dawn Treader decides that they are not worth anything and throws them away - well, by that point the books will be theirs to do with as they please. The point is that I didn't throw them away.
And what will I do if I need reading material and all of my books are packed? Well, I could just go through boxes and pull stuff out. Or I could buy more books... though I am going to try to avoid that option. (Though I have had my eye on the new David Sederis book....)
Tonight, more packing. I need to go back to Office Max. I need more boxes and bubblewrap. And beer. Mmmm... boxes and booze.
July 12
Well, I guess I can stop worrying about where I am going to live when I move to Dayton, since I have a freshly signed lease tucked away in my backpack. *whew* I can strick that one off of my list of stuff to stress out about. (This leaves the stresses of ending my job at DBD, packing, actually moving, Sarah's wedding, and the persistent fear that I will be unable to live up to everyone's expectations at Elsevier.)
It was the second place I looked at, it was topping John and my list of preferences, and it looked great, so I decided to go for it without looking at anything else. The comples is in a very "neighborhoody" area... the main road that it is near is sort of like a cross between Plymouth and Carpenter, and just up the street is historic Centervillie, which is kind of like Kerrytown. So this could actually work out. The new apartment itself is quite nice - large and private with a view of the woods. I could go on describing it, but since it is an apartment, in the end it still comes down to off-white walls and beige carpet. Unlike my apartment in Parc Pointe, it does not have a washer/dryer in the apartment or a fireplace (which is a bit of a bigger disapointment, especially since the lady I initially talked to on the phone said that it had one... turns out that none of the places that were available had fireplaces in them) but I guess that I can live without a fireplace for a little while. Maybe a little less cozy in the winter, but more wall space for bookshelves. (And to be honest, having John down here with me will make it plenty cozy.) It is empty and ready to go right now, so I can pretty much move in anytime. I just have to let the management team know. And get the utilities turned on, of course. I would have pictures of the place, but I forgot my digital camera. (You were right, John! I did forget something!)
And the place is within easy biking distance of Mike and Sarah's apartment, Lexis-Nexis, two libraries, a coffee house, an ice cream shop, a couple of quaint looking restaurants, a Blockbuster, and a Tim Hortons. This could work out.
Dayton seems to be a little less bike and pedestrian friendly then Ann Arbor, but it is hard to be MORE bike and pedestrian friendly then Ann Arbor. Apparently, however, there is a very nice 50 mile bike trail that runs from Yellow Springs almost all the way down to Cincinnati. This could be fun for John and I to do together.
That was all yesterday. Today I went in to the offices with Sarah to say hi to people and get a brief introduction to some of the projects that I will be working on and try to pick up my AWOL paperwork. My main accomplishment today was in managing to already make a pain in the ass of myself by insisting that the paperwork be ready and handed to me when the HR people said that it would be.
And now... I am tired, and I am hungry, and I have some design work for Michael that I said would be ready tomorrow that I haven't even started on yet. (I have the sketches, I just haven't done the comps yet.) And John is coming over in a little bit so we can go to dinner at Arbor Brewing Company and I can tell him all about my trip.
July 10
Is
it a tradition that the Celtic Fest in Saline has to be held on a day that
is miserable hot and huggy? I think that it must be. It was still cool and
overcast when I left my apartment this morning, but not when I got to Mill
Pond Park in Saline. I am glad that I thought to bring a hat with me. And
even with the hat I could feel myself cooking slowly in my garb - dark green
and black with long sleeves. Bad choices when it comes to staying cool, but
at least the long sleeves and skirts kept me from getting sunburned.
I love Celtic Fest. Good food (Cornish pasties!) good music (highland bagpipe bands) and good fun (sheepdog trials). All that plus the Highland Games ... featuring big burly guys in skirts (kilts). My favorite of the games is the caber toss - big burly guys in skirts throwing what amounts to telephone poles. It is just a lot of fun to watch. And you won't see more guys in kilts anywhere but here. They do Celtic Pride big down in Saline.
And of course Cynnabar had a presence there. We set up several pavilions and a list and had fencing and heavy weapons fighting and singing and all kinds of craft demonstrations.
I just can't imagine how the heavy fighters were managing to put on all of their armor and get out and fight today. And those metal helmets! Their brains must have been frying. There was fencing as well as heavy fighting, but for some reason it just didn't occur to me bring my gear with me. Eric brought his, and Chuck and Alex and a bunch of the regular fencers were there - and they all teased me a little bit for forgetting my stuff. It would have been fun to fence... but it would also have been a pain to try to coordinate fighting and singing. I am glad that I just stuck to the singing.
This was the last time that I will be able to perform in public with the Cynnabar Collegium Musicum. There are a couple of more practices that I can go to before I leave, but no more performances. So this was the last time... until I move back to Ann Arbor (in five or seven or so years) and start to sing with them again (if they are still around). It is pretty sad. I keep doing things here and thinking stuff like, "this is one of the last time I will be able to do this..." and it gets kind of depressing after a while.
Thanks for all of the great times, guys. I will really miss you.
July 9
[11:00am]
Does it ever happen to you that the more work you have to do, the more excuses you find to put it off and procrastinate it and take all sorts of "little breaks" during it? Yeah, that is where I am now. Bug checking can be veeeery tedious, and it starts to get pointless if the site you are testing hasn't been updated since the last round of errors you sent out to be fixed. So I am taking a "little break". Which I have been using to check out Dayton and its surrounding cities of Beavercreek, Centerville, and Miamisburg. (yay, Google) The operative adjective I have come up with is "quaint", especially for Beavercreek and Centerville. Another thing I could not help noticing is that the websites for these cities SUCK. It makes me itch to volunteer my services so that even if they are a little short on useful content, at least their sites would look decent.
July 8
Three weeks and counting. In less then a month I will be moving out of Ann Arbor. I am relocating to Dayton, OH, and will be taking a position with Elsevier as a user interface designer. The job should be great, so no worries there. Dayton, however... I am not as sure about the town. And I am pretty conflicted (still, and there is not backing away from the edge at this point) about leaving Ann Arbor. One of my friends suggested that I write down pros and cons of moving, as well as what I will miss. He claimed that this would help me to "put everything in perspective". So, as per his recommendation, here you go... my lists. (In retrospect, the lists of pros and cons were shorter then I thought they would be... I discovered that most of the stuff that I initially thought fit under the "cons" actually belonged in the "what I will miss" list.)
Pros
- Great job, great benefits, great experience.
- The cost of living in Dayton is a lot lower then in Ann Arbor, so I could buy a pretty nice house in the spring.
- It will be neat to work for a company that is older then my country. (Elsevier is over 400 years old)
- Possibility for international travel since Elsevier's home office is in Amsterdam.
- Sarah works for Elsevier in Dayton, so I will already know someone there.
Cons
- I have so many friends here in Ann Arbor I will miss.
- I don't know how well I will fit into corporate life.
- Dayton is not going to be nearly as cool as Ann Arbor.
- How bike-friendly is Dayton? Can I bike and walk lots of places like I can in Ann Arbor? I somehow doubt it.
- I like living in a place that has a nicely defined and interesting downtown, and I am not sure how well this fits Dayton.
Some things I will miss about Ann Arbor
- All of my friends here... Katy, Eric, Chuck, Elaine, Elizabeth, DeForest, Zach, Janine, David, Doug.... everyone
- All of the great restuarants
- Coffeehouses and bookstores everywhere
- Underworld
- Whizzywigs
- That I can bike anywhere in town that I want to go to
- A small city, but with a ton of cultural advantages
- DeForest's terrible jokes
- UM
- Art Faire (even though a lot of people who live here hate it, I don't)
- Zingerman's
- Meeting friends and hanging out listening to music and watching movies at Top of the Park in the summer
- Shooting pool at Leopold's
- Kerrytown
- All of the turn of the century buildings with wonderful architecture downtown
- Walking to Conor O'Neil's for dinner after work
- Cynnabar
- Singabar
- Fencing on Sunday mornings at the north campus belltower (summer) or in the student union (winter)
- The Arb
- The botanical gardens
- Driving fast down Dixboro coming home from gaming at Katy and Eric's
- Eating breakfast at The Broken Egg on weekend mornings with John
- Playing Catan at Chuck's
- FKABN
- Everything
I am going to be moving, whatever my reservations might be. I am leaving Ann Arbor, despite how much I like living here, and I know that I want to come back. I will come back. After all, I still want to get my PhD, and I can't think of a better place to get my PhD then here at SI. And until then, at least Dayton is only about two hours away, so I will be able to come back and visit often.
July 6
Maybe I am less "patriotic" these days. After all, Fourth of July celebrations, which used to be a big deal what with the fireworks and celebrations and picnics and all, have now dwindled to just about nothing other then a day off of work. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that day off of work. But should I be doing anything to show that I deserve that day off?
This year I didn't even blow anything up. Part of that is because, for whatever reason, Ann Arbor just doesn't "do" fireworks. But in past years (like last year, as an example) this didn't stop me from buying small, colorful explosives and staging my own little show. It is not like I didn't have any opportunity to buy fireworks. They may be technically illegal here - but that doesn't mean that you can't buy them ALL OVER THE PLACE. Heck, last week at Kroger I witnessed the purchasing of an accident about to happen... a couple of frat boys in their frat boy uniforms of UM sports t-shirts were buying a shopping cart full of cases of beer, fireworks, and sparklers. Me? I just bought my regular groceries. Not even a small package of sparklers.
This year for the glorious 4th... I was rained on. Repeatedly. I spent the first half of the afternoon fencing in what weather that alternated between being stiflingly hot and muggy, and being pouring rain. The second half of the afternoon was taken up with board games. (Guillotine and Settlers of Catan) In other words, it was a typical Sunday.
Then yesterday was quite a nice party over at Kelly and Chirs's place, with barbecue and croquet and board games, but there was nothing overtly Fourth-of-July-ish about it. And that was fine with me. I had a great time, even if I suck at croquet. All I really want out of any holiday anymore is just an excuse to get together with friends or family. Fireworks or other holiday cheer do not need to be involved in order for all to have a good time.
Have I lost my zest for fire and explosives in my old age? I sure hope not. I think that I will blame this apathy on being overwhelmed by work at DBD, trying to be the best maid of honor to Sarah that I can be, and trying to get my life organized into neat little boxes that I can move down to Dayton. This troika of responsibilities is proving to be a very convenient scapegoat this summer for what might otherwise be seen as glaring personal defects.
July 5
Happy birthday, John.
July 2
So... a couple of days ago I decided to climb up on my political soapbox after seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11". And I strongly implied that George W. Bush is an illiterate moron who is misleading this country into total ruin. And, further, I indicated that I would not be at all unhappy if G.W. were to choak on another pretzel and die already. In addition, I hope that in his convulsive panicked flailings at finding a snack food lodged in his esophagus that he is able to take out Cheney for good measure. That way, we won't have to worry about what either of them will do anymore!
Today I recieved in the mail a notice from the IRS that I made a mistake on my tax returns, and that I own more money in addition to what I paid. Also, the letter informed me that I had better pay up NOW, or greasy, mono-browed IRS agents might show up at my door and break my pinkie fingers. Well, okay, they didn't actually say that last bit, but I feel that they strongly implied it.
Coincidence? I don't think so....
In other (and really not any more uplifting) news, my Malachan faction plumeted into catastrophe. All of my (very profitable) entertainers are dead. So is one of my scouts. All of them were killed and eaten by a dragon. I also lost a lot of money, trade goods, two wagons, and three horses. Should be interesting trying to recover from this disaster.
July 1
Pictures, pictures, pictures! As a special early July edition, may I present to you... the Cynnabar Collegium Musicum! (drumroll, please)
These are all pictures from the Kingdom Arts and Sciences competition at the end of May, where we took the Division 1 championship. Go us! And many munificent thanks to Matt for giving me the pictures to post. (And Matt, even though I know that you said you didn't think that all of them were that good, I decided to post them all anyway! Heck, why not? It's my bandwidth!)
Hey guys, maybe we ought to warm up or something since we are competing soon.
Warming up. We like to impress people by singing polyphony when we warm up. It makes us sound like we really know what we are doing.
Yay, Martha!
Singing. Probably Tempus Tramsit since I don't have the hand drum.
From left to right: Matt, Chip, Rachel, Parsla, Martha, Me, Magda, and Katy (our fearless leader!)
Another close up as we are judged.
Chip and Matt in their highly acclaimed performance of Bacce Bene, in which they decided to sing only the rudest and most sexist verses. Good thing it is in Latin!